[TriLUG] [OT] What's the value of IT?

Maxwell Spangler max09 at maxwellspangler.com
Wed May 13 23:50:27 EDT 2009


On Wed, 2009-05-13 at 20:30 -0400, Phillip Rhodes wrote:

> Jim, do you recall our discussion about the long-term view and
> the way it would be good to work with small-businesses that grow
> up to be the next $BIG_PROFITABLE_CO, so you can grow with them?
> That's part of what I'm getting at with this discussion.

> So I'm interested in how to help a mom and pop flower-shop that
> will never be more than 1 store, but more interested in a mom
> and pop flowers-shop that wants to be the next 1-800-FLOWERS.

IT is an important part of running a business, but it is only a balanced
part of most businesses -- not the center or heavily weighted part.  I
notice three types these days:

* Independent businesses that are focused on increasing revenue and
keeping costs down.  That description should apply to all businesses but
what sets these apart is their myopic view: They tend to focus on doing
the the same things in the same way with only slight changes and pennies
matter.  These are the ones that might buy into your IT project,
reluctantly, but then nickle and dime you on getting it done or
supporting it.  These are the guys that will go out of business in the
future as their competition embraces change.

* Small businesses with great potential.  Think local chain with less
than ten locations.  They've already shown they have the drive,
management capabilities to scale up, and the capital to do it.  These
guys listen when you talk about things IT can do to change them for the
better.  If they hear an IT investment will increase their capabilities
and either save money or increase revenue, they're interested.  And they
have enough revenue to pay reasonable rates and continue to grow in the
future.  These guys are the ones to watch in the future.

* Big businesses with strong management that want to be market leaders.
They treat every aspect of their business as serious: They know a good
marketing program can fail or succeed with great rewards and well
thought out IT systems can... do the same.  These are the guys who have
their computers gathering massive amounts of data about past, present
and potential customers in order to target their sales and marketing
efforts towards maximum sales at the highest prices.

That's my current view of the business market.  I have to say I'm very
much let down by the first group, the smallest independent businesses.
This country is now littered with towns full of once thriving businesses
that chose not to embrace change enough and got beat out.  I can't stop
myself from having ideas about how IT could improve their businesses but
what I can't do is get them to listen and/or believe in it half the
time.

If the world was run by IT people, we'd have those Jetsons' hovercars
zipping around :-)


-- 
Maxwell Spangler




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